thundercleetz

Ewww doesn't look good for Wieters. Kind of similar to the Dylan Bundy situation awhile back. Elbow injuries are never good news and it always seems surgery is inevitable. Crazy

Interesting scenario. I wonder if the ump would have had the awareness to call catcher's interference? There were two outs, right? Even if Davis dropped a bunt it would have had to be a roller down the third base line. Anything else and the catcher could still probably have time to retrieve and throw him out at first. Not sure if Davis is that confident in his bunting ability. Regardless, if he is going to be seeing this type of shift on a regular basis he should learn. He's fairly athletic. Either way, real odd play. If anything, maybe we shouldn't have sent Markakis home on a couple of plays before knowing our heart of the order was coming at bat. Gausman displayed ace-quality stuff last night on national television. It was a real treat watching one of our starters throw 97-98 MPH well into the seventh inning. I think he touched 99 MPH a couple of times yesterday as well. When Gausman can also locate his mid-80s off speed stuff, it's nearly impossible for hitters to get comfortable.

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/19-year-old-figured-out-how-to-clean-up-the-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch-in-just-10-years/624099/?utm_source=FBTraffic&utm_medium=fijifrost&utm_campaign=CMfacebook

I beat the main story in MGS5 GZ. Looking back the main story is really short. It's one mission that has two objectives. Most of my time was figuring out the controls and getting used to the map to get all the patches and cassettes. I hadn't played a Metal Gear game in years, but I'm sure a Metal Gear vet could beat the game real quick. There are some additional side missions that you unlock after the main story but they are not story related. So I will play Watch Dogs before doing those, if I do.

I've always loved Steve Smith's fire on the football field. The guy is a badass and brings an intimidation factor. Hopefully he rubs off on some of our guys.

Ugh Johan Santana tore his achilles in an extended spring game on a freak play. Apparently his velocity was back up and his stuff was looking good. I didn't have high hopes but it would have been really interesting to see him play.

I just got Watch Dogs for X1 as a gift. I guess I'll he playing this as well.

Joe had his best year when Zorn was the QB coach. Joe is a lanky guy so his mechanics get sloppy. Zorn, having played in the NFL as a tall QB himself, stuck on Joe to consistently fix his mechanics. That year was Joe's most consistent year. Kubiak is a former QB himself who has a high attention to detail, I expect similar results. Saying Flacco has a slow release is ludicrous. If you want to say he holds on to the ball too long waiting for receivers to get open that's fine. But Flacco can fling the ball as hard as anyone with a flick of his wrist. He needs a coach who can take advantage of match ups and use different route combinations to get receivers open for easy throws. We need a WR coach to teach our guys to find open spots when a play break down. Kubiak should improve our team in this respect. Matt Schaub didn't necessarily have the prototypical skill set for Kubiak's WCO but Kubiak made it work. Same with Nick Foles for Chip Kelly. If Flacco can play to the level of his 2010 play we'll be more than fine. IMO he'll play even better than that this season.

I'm playing through it right now for X1. Spectacular graphics. I can't speak to the length of the game because I haven't played the main story too much but all the reviews say it's no more than a few hours. The map is open so I've been exploring, collecting the hidden patches and getting used to the gameplay. I just learned how to choke and interrogate which is cool. It's probably a good value for $20 although I'm sure you could beat it in a rental period.

As a Tulane alum I'd love to see him start as a coach for his hometown team! He and Tulane's coach are already tight from Miami.

I did the math and came up with my conclusion. Agree to disagree here.

Offenses nowadays aren't clear cut one system or another. Good coaches best utilize the talents of their players. Kubiak is a good coach and will emphasize Joe's strengths. See Nick Foles in Philly. Every analyst said Foles would never work in Chip Kelly's "system".

I agree. Which is why I think Kubiak's offense will be good for Joe. Kubiak doesn't rely on these timing throws. He uses playaction and roll out to give his QBs easy throws. One area where Joe has excelled in his career is off of playaction.

Why do you have doubts about Kubiak and the offensive system?

Depressing analysis on Markakis and what could have been: http://orioles-nation.com/2014/05/31/nick-markakis-power-gone/

Thanks guys!

I went to undergrad in Louisiana. Incoming students who went to HS in LA would say they had 5.0s or something crazy like that in HS. Weren't that smart. Btw I was talking to a friend last night who works in climate research. He said we're basically screwed. Said we should have started to do something about the environment back in the 80s. Also at this point said we can only hope to slow things down. He thinks the government knows a lot more than they are telling us and things are probably a lot worse. He was pretty optimistic about America and using technology to protect our major developments (obviously extreme weather patterns) however he thought it was inevitable that Bangladesh is going to be underwater and Africa is going to completely dry up, among other things.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways

We'll just agree to disagree here. Still don't agree with your assessment on China and Russia. I don't think the strengthening of Russia-China and deterioration of US-Russia since 2001 is a coincidence. As said, I'm not disagreeing with what you say in your last paragraph. You're right these moves have no effect on the currency, and China doesn't want it to. At the moment. Irresponsible borrowing, intrusive foreign policy that is not well received by the rest of the world, and if there is a economy crash, then yes these move will absolutely matter.

Russell Brand has been awesome everytime he's been on Stern. I've been meaning to watch this video. Sounds like it's good.

DC, I sincerely hope you're right. And I wish I shared your optimism. In my original post I agreed with you stating this move itself is not a big. However, to ignore it as insignificant is irresponsible IMO. Yes, this will have no effect on our currency in the short or intermediate run for among the reasons stated: e.g. China has the most to lose if the dollar crashes (essentially a major unrealized capital loss). Also, as long as we're intervening with Arab governments to ensure the petro dollar stays intact the dollar isn't going anywhere. Long-term though, I don't agree with you or the Forbes article. Yes, China doesn't want our currency to crash as they hold so much of it and it would obviously be devalued. However, what about in the event of a world currency crash? Your guess is as good as mine, but there could he sunk costs for everyone. I don't think China is buying up gold just for the heck of it either: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/07/22/china-working-quietly-to-buy-up-gold/ No, I'm not saying we'll go back to the gold standard. But we could very well have another 1971 where a new monetary system emerges with China as the leader. I am also not sure I agree with your assessment on Russia being more friendly with China. Maybe more so than the USSR days, but I am certain events as of late and our diplomacy the past decade or so has pushed Russia more in that direction. The question you have to ask: is it realistic that we could see the world economy crash at some point in the intermediate future? I think it is. People do dangerous things when they have nothing to lose and interests certainly change. Russia is especially dangerous because they have a leader who has no regard for the welfare of his country. Once again, I hope you're right and this is nothing. If we take moves to stabilize our currency, this will be nothing. I just see too many interconnected pieces here to dismiss this as non-news. China has a bubble of their own, but if we continue down the path we are we'll burst before them.

Roof or not the state is going to have to pony up some dough. A thirty year old stadium on the coast is going to require extensive work. Not to mention by then the Redskins could be out of MD. We also know Bisciotti and the Ravens organization likes to he first class, so I'm sure they will want the renovations to put the stadium back among the nicest in the league. Ravens are positioning themselves to have a lot of leverage.

I agree, it could also bring a Super Bowl. However, it would be a big price tag. The Nationals valued a roof on their park at $500M. Dolphins valued a partial roof at $350M. The KC Chiefs also passed on a roof which would have gotten them a Super Bowl. Who knows how much that will be in 2027, much less whatever renovations a 30 year old stadium on the Atlantic coast will need.

http://m.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/05/21/how-m-t-bank-and-the-ravens-got-a-new-10-year-deal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+industry_18+%28Industry+Media+%26+Marketing%29&r=full Sounds like the Ravens were happy with the current deal they had. This is no coincidence. I've been saying this for awhile, but expect the Ravens to have very high demands on M&T renovations when the lease comes up. I'm not going to go crazy and say they will demand a roof, but other stadiums get a lot more money on naming rights because the stadium has potential to host NCAA tournaments, conference championship games, and bowl games (Cowboys get $19M a year from AT&T). In short, I definitely think the Ravens and the state will work towards making M&T more attractive to different types of events, and hence be able to demand more money for sponsorships. In the meantime the deal with M&T provides stability, which Dick Cass stated.